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OF    THE 

LIBERAL  AND  RESTRICTIVE  SYSTEMS 

OF 

POLITICAL  ECOJSrOMVi 

AND 

Of  their  effects  in  Great  Britain,  France,  Russia,  Prussia. 
Holland,  and  the  United  States. 

WITH 

AN  EXAMINATION 

OF 

MR.  HUSKISSON'S  SYSTEM  OF  DUTIES  ON  IMPORTS. 

BY  A  CITIZEN  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 

SECOND  EDITION,  GREATLY  ENLARGED  AND  IMPROVED. 


"  Considering  a  monopoly  of  the  domestic  market  to  its  own  manufacturers  as  the  reigning  policy 
"  of  manufacturing  nations,  a  similar  policy  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  in  every  proper  in- 
"  stance,  is  dictated,  it  might  almost  be  said,  by  the  principles  of  distributive  ivstice ;  certainly  by  t'.ie 
"  dutj' of  endeavouring  to  secure  to  their  own  citizens  a  reciprocity  of  advantages."— flariuVfonV 
Report  on  Manufactures, p.  80. 

"  Whatever  tends  to  diminish  in  any  country  the  number  of  artificers  and  manufactnrers,tends  to 
"diminish  the  home  market,  the  most  important  of  all  markets  fur  the  rude  produce  of  the  land,  and 
"thereby  still  further  to  discourage  agriculture."— Smith's  Wealth  of  Nations,  Vol.  II.  149. 

"  Manufacturing  establishments  not  only  occasion  a  positive  augmentation  of  the  produce  and 
"  revenue  of  the  society,  but  contribute  essentially  to  rendering  them  greater  than  they  could  possibly 
"  be  nvithout  such  eitai/;>A?uen«s."— Hamilton's  Report  on  Manufactures,  p.  25. 

"  The  substitution  of  foreign  for  domestic  manufactui-es  is  a  transfer  to  fureigmnations  of  the  nd- 
"  vantages  accruing  from  the  employment  of  machinery,  in  the  modes  iu  uhich  it  is  capable  of  being 
"  employed  with  most  utility  and  to  tlie  gi-eatest  extent."— Idem, p.  28. 

•*  Manufacturing  establishments  afford  occasional  and  extra  employment  to  industrious  indivi- 
"  duals  and  families,  who  are  willing  to  devote  the  leisur**  res\ilting  from  the  intennlssions  of  their 
"  ordinai-y  pursuits,  to  tollateral  lab<jui-s,  as  a  ix?3ource  for  multiplying  tbtir  acquisitions  or  their  en- 
"  joynients.  The  husbiindnian  himself  exj)eriences  a  new  source  of  profit  and  support  from  the  in- 
"  creased  industry  of  his  -wife  and  daughters;  invited  and  stimulated  liy  the  demands  of  the  neigh- 
"  bouring  manul'actorics. 

"  -Xnoiher  advantage  is  the  employment  of  persons  vho  rvould  otheiicise  he  idle,  (and  in  many  cases 
"  a  burden  on  the  community,)  either  from  the  bias  of  temper,  habit,  infiiTnity  of  bo  Jy,  or  sonic 
"  other  cause,  indisposing  or  disqualif>ang  tliem  for  the  toils  of  tlie  countiy." — Mem,  p.  29. 

"  Let  us  not  deceive  ourselves  by  false  appearances.  A  nation  may  carry  on  a  gainful  trade, 
"  while  its  strength  and  vigour  are  declining.  Its  merchants  may  be  enriched,  while  the  statt 
"  becomes  nerveless  and  exhiausted."— ^wrf«'.Jon  on  Nati"ttal  Industry, p.  28S. 


V 


PHILADELPHIA: 
PRINTED  BY  J.  K.  A.  SKERRETT. 


1826. 

Price  6  cents — and  per  dozen  50  cents.) 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

"  Women  and  children  are  rendered  more  useful^  and  the  latter 
more  early  KsefuL  ft//  mani«facturing  establishments,  than  they  would 
othenrise  be.  Of  the  number  of  persons  employed  in  the  cotton  ma- 
nufactories of  Great  Britain,  it  is  computed  that  four-sevenths  nearly 
are  women  and  children;  of  whom  the  greatest  proportion  are  chil- 
dren, and  many  of  them  of  a  very  tender  age."* 

"  No  earthly  method  remains  for  encouraging  agriculture,  where 
it  has  not  reared  up  its  head,  that  can  be  considered  in  any  ivay  effi- 
cacious, but  the  establishing  proper  manufactures  in  those  countries 
you  wish  to  encouras;e.^^'' 

"If  a  manufacture  be  established  in  any  rich  and  fertile  country, 
by  convening  a  number  of  people  into  one  place,  who  must  all  be  fed 
by  the  farmer,  without  interfering  with  any  of  his  necessary  opera- 
tions, f/irj/ cv/nft/isft  a  ready  market  for  the  produce  of  his  farm,  and 
thus  thi'Oic  money  into  his  hands,  and  give  spirit  and  energy  to  his 
culture.'^' 

"  Where  a  nation  imposes  high  duties  on  our  productions,  or  pro" 
hibits  them  altogether,  it  may  be  proper  for  us  to  do  the  same  by  theirs 
— first  burdening  or  e.x'cluding  those  productions  which  they  bring 
here  in  competition  with  our  own  of  the  same  kind ;  selecting  next, 
such  manufactures  as  we  take  from  them  in  greatest  quantity,  and 
which  at  the  same  time  we  could  the  soonest  furnish  to  ourselves,  or 
obtain  from  other  countries ;  imposing  on  them  duties  light  at  first, 
but  heavier  and  heavier  afterwards,  as  other  channels  of  supply  open."* 

"  Such  duties,  having  the  effect  of  indirect  encouragement  to  do- 
mestic manufactures  of  the  same  kind,  may  induce  the  manufacturer 
to  come  himself  into  these  states,  where  cheaper  subsistence,  equal 
laws,  and  a  vent  for  his  wares,  free  of  duty,  may  insure  him  the  high- 
est profits  from  his  skill  and  industry.  The  oppressions  of  our  agri- 
culture in  foreign  parts  would  thus  be  made  the  occasion  of  relieving 
it  from  a  dependence  on  the  councils  and  conduct  of  others,  and  of 
promoting  arts,  mamfactures,  and  population  at  home.^''^ 

"  There  are  natural  causes  tending  to  render  the  external  demand 
for  the  su7-plus  of  agricidtural  nations  a  precarious  reliance.  The 
differences  of  seasons,  in  the  countries  which  are  the  consumers, 
make  immense  differences  in  the  produce  of  their  own  soils,  in  dif- 
ferent years;  and  consequently  in  the  degrees  of  their  necessity  for 
foreign  supply.  Plentiful  harvests  with  them,  especially  if  similar 
ones  occur  at  the  same  time,  in  the  countries  which  are  the  furnishers, 
occasion  of  course  a  glut  in  the  markets  of  the  latter.'"* 

"  There  appear  strong  reasons  to  regard  the  foreign  demand  for 
our  surplus  produce  as  too  uncertain  a  reliance,  and  to  desire  a  sub- 
stitute for  it,  in  an  extensive  domestic  market."'' 

"  If  Europe  will  not  take  from  us  the  products  of  our  soil,  upon 
terms  consistent  with  our  interest,  the  natural  remedy  is  to  contract, 
as  fast  as  possible,  our  wants  of  her. ^^'^ 

"  The  uniform  appearance  of  an  abundance  of  specie,  as  the  con- 
comitant of  a  flourishing  state  of  manufactures,  and  of  the  reverse 
where  they  do  not  prevail,  afford  a  strong  presumption  of  their  favour- 
able operation  upon  the  wealth  of  a  country. ^^^ 

1  Hamilton's  Report  on  Manufactures,  p.  29. 

2  Anderson  on  Industry,  p.  70.  ^Idem,  37. 

*  Jefferson's  Keport  on  tlic  Privileges  and  Restrictions  of  the  Commerce  oi" 
the  United  States  in  Foreign  Countries.  ''Ibid. 

6  Hamilton's  Keport  on  Mamifactures,  p.  35.    '  Ibid.    « Idem,  40.    » Idem,  71. 


Twelfth  Series. 

CURSORY  VIEWS,  ^'c.-~No.  I. 

Eff'ects  of  the  Restrictive  System  in  France  and  Prussia — and  of 
the  Liberal  System  in  Russia  and  Holland. 

Philadelphia^  Nov.  8,  1826. 

The  following  essays  on  political  economy,  are  respectfully 
submitted  to  the  consideration  of  those  who  have  any  interest 
in  the  welfare  of  this  country,  and  desire  that  it  may  attain  the 
high  degree  of  prosperity  to  which  its  boundless  advantages 
entitle  it  to  aspire,  and  from  which  nothing  but  the  most  egre- 
gious impolicy  can  debar  it.  The  arguments,  like  all  the  argu- 
ments on  the  same  side  of  the  question,  are  founded  on  facts, 
and  on  the  uniform  experience  of  all  nations,  whether  their 
resources  are  withered  and  blighted,  like  those  of  Spain,  Por- 
tugal, Poland,  and  Ireland,  by  an  unsound  policy,  or  fostered 
by  wise  statesmen,  as  those  of  France,  England,  and  Prussia 
have  been.  Whereas,  the  "liberal  system,"  as  it  is  styled, 
par  excellence.,  is  founded  on  mere  theory,  and  scouted  by  al- 
most every  nation  in  the  new  and  old  world. 

Rejecting  technical  definitions,  political  economy  may  be 
defined  to  be  the  science  of  promoting  national  prosperity  and 
happiness,  by  fostering  industry,  their  only  genuine  source. 

On  this  subject,  the  opinions  of  mankind  are  at  present  ex- 
tremely divided.  There  are  two  schools — the  new  and  the  old. 

The  old  school  professes,  that  the  national  agriculture,  ma- 
nufactures and  commerce,  ought  to  be  fostered  and  encour- 
aged by  every  honourable  means  that  can  be  devised — and 
the  interference  of  whatever  would  crush  or  depress  them, 
ought  to  be  prevented  by  duties  more  or  less  prohibitory,  or 
by  prohibitions,  as  the  case  may  require. 

They  believe  with  Alexander  Hamilton,  that — 

"Though  it  were  true,  that  the  immediate  and  certain  effect  of  regulations 
controlHng  the  competition  of  foreign  with  domestic  fabrics,  was  an  increase 
^^^  of  price,  it  is  universally  true,  that  tlie  contrary  is  the  ultimate  effect  with 
'  every  successful  manufacture.  IVhen  a  dotnestlc  mamifadure  has  aituincd  to 
■5*  perfection,  and  has  engaged  in  the  prosecution  of  it  a  competent  number  of  per- 
'  sons,  it  iiivariably  becomes  cheaper.  The  internal  competition,  which  takes  place, 
soon  does  away  every  thing  like  monopoly,  and  by  degrees  reduces  the  price 
♦  of  the  article  to  the  minimum  of  a  reasonable  profit  on  the  capital  employ- 
^    ed.     This  accords  with  the  reason  of  the  thing  and  with  experience."* 

The  new  school,  I  believe,  professes,  that  there  should  be  no 
further  restriction  on  importation,  particularly  of  manufac- 
tures, than  for  the  mere  purpose  of  raising  revenue  by  im- 
post. This,  at  least,  is  the  idea  held  out  on  various  occasions 
by  its  admirers,  especially  in  the  Salem  memorial,  to  which 
I  have  so  often  had  occasion  to  refer. 

*  Hamilton's  Report  on  Manufactures,  p.  66. 

409153 


H 


« 


(  4  ) 

"  11  is  .1  sound  political  maxim,"  say  the  memorialists,  "  that  the  more  free 
trade  is,  and  the  more  widely  it  circidates,  the  more  siu"e  will  be  its  prosperity. 
Krerij  resfriction,"  [that  is,  every  prohibition  or  duty,]  "which  is  not  indispen- 
$ihk  for  ihe  purposes  of  revenue,  is  a  shoal  which  wLU  impede  its  progress,  and 
not  unfrequently  jeopard  its  security." 

The  Philadelphia  chamber  of  commerce  extend  the  doc- 
trine so  as  to  admit  of  restrictions  on  articles  necessary  for 
warfare.     They  object  against  carrying 

"  Restrictive  legislation  beyond  the  limits  of  u  fair  resm-t  to  trade  for  the  pur- 
poses of  revenue,  and  the  case  of  public  necessity,  or  high  public  exigency  to 
prepare  the  country  for  the  exigencies  of  war." 

On  the  subject  of  the  doctrines  of  the  new  school,  the  fol- 
lowing opinion  of  the  Quarterly  Review  claims  great  atten- 
tion : — 

"  //  is  a  strotig  reason  to  doubt  the  practicability  of  these  schemes,  that  statesmen 
have  no  where  ventured  upon  them,-  not  front  ignorance,  as  has  been  petulantly 
pretended,  but  from  extended  knowledge.  Neither  in  old  nor  new  states,  do  le- 
gislatures find  the  Utopian  ideas  of  these  philosophers  to  be  feasible:  yet  Adam 
Smith,  the  great  advocate  for  the  most  unrestricted  trade,  is  read  in  all  coun- 
tries and  languages,  and  his  doctrines  have  been  moulded  into  all  shapes, 
r'hethcr  to  inform  youth  or  puzzle  the  learned  !  !  !  Reflection  and  practice  seem 
lo  show,  that  this  valuable  writer,  in  the  zeal  of  his  argument,  carried  too  far 
his  views  of  freedom  of  trade,  as  he  assuredly  did  those  of  unlimited  production 
and  unrestrained  parsimony."* 

Experience  is  the  only  true  test  of  theory.  Without  that 
guide,  theory  is  an  ignis  fatuus^ 

"  That  leads  to  bewilder — and  dazzles  to  blind." 

If  a  college  of  the  most  profound  men  in  any  other  science, 
were  assembled,  and  .with  their  united  wisdom  devised  the 
most  plausible  theory  that  could  be  conceived — if  on  trial  it 
were  found  and  proved  erroneous,  by  any  individual,  inferior 
to  the  lowest  of  the  college,  it  would  be  rejected  by  the 
world.  Believing  this  rule  to  apply  in  a  preeminent  degree 
to  political  economy,  I  submit  to  the  reader  the  results,  in 
different  countries,  of  both  systems.  If  unbiassed,  he  will 
have  no  difficulty  in  forming  a  correct  decision. 

France  enforces  the  restrictive  system  rigorously.  By  the 
protection  it  affords  her  industry,  she  has  rapidly  recovered 
from  the  wounds  inflicted  on  ht-r  prosperity  by  a  war  of  ex- 
treme length,  and  most  enormous  expenditure;  by  a  military 
contribution  of  S  100,000,000;  by  a  subjugation  of  two  years 
to  enraged  and  lawless  armies  ;  and  by  the  loss  of  nearly  all 
her  colonies,  of  which  one  was  the  most  valuable  in  the  world. 
She  is  rajjidly  paying  off  her  debt,  diminishing  her  taxes,  and 
steadily  maintains  a  specie  currency. 

Russia,  in  1818,  in  an  evil  hour  made  the  pernicious  expe- 
riment of  the  "  liberal  system."  In  two  years  it  overspread 
the  nation  with  distress  and  bankruptcy,  and  she  was  obliged 
to  abandon  it,  and  renew  the  restrictive  system,  whereby  she 
is  slowly  recovering  from  the  sufferings  inflicted  by  the  ex- 

*  Quarterly  Review,  No.  48,  p.  301. 


(-    5     ) 

periment.  The  emperor  Alexander's  description  of  the  ef- 
fects of  his  innovation,  ought  to  operate  in  terrorem  to  other 
nations. — He  says,  that  the  nation  which  adopts  the  liberal 
system 

"  Offers  a  continual  encouragemnnt  to  the  manufactures  oj  other  countries — and 
its  oiun  manufactures  perish  in  the  struggle  xvldch  they  are  unable  to  maintain. 

"It  is  with  the  most  lively  feelings  of  regret  we  acknowledge  that  it  is  ow 
oiun  proper  experience  which  enables  us  to  trace  this  picture.  The  evils  which  it 
details,  have  been  realized  in  Russia  and  in  Poland,  since  the  conclusion  of 
the  act  of  the  7-19  of  December,  1818.  AGUICULTURE  WITHOUT  A  MAR- 
KET, INDUSTRY  WITHOUT  PROTECTION,  LANGUISH  AND  DECLINE. 
Specie  is  exported,  and  THE  MOST  SOLID  COMMERCIAL  HOUSES  ARE 
SHAKEN — and  the  public  prosperity  would  soon  feel  the  wound  inflicted  on 
private  fortunes,  if  new  regulations  did  not  promptly  change  the  actual  state 
of  affairs. 

"It  is  onlij  after  these  losses  have  come  to  their  height,  after  events  have  proved  that 
OUR  AGRICULTURE  AND  OUR  COMMERCE,  AS  WELL  AS  OUR  MANU- 
FACTURING INDUSTRY,  ARE  NOT  ONLY  PARALIZED,  BUT  BROUGHT 
TO  THE  BRINK  OF  RUIN,  that  his  imperial  majesty  formed  the  resolution," 
&c.  &c. 

Holland  made  the  same  experiment  in  1816,  and  has  been 
in  a  most  depressed  state  ever  since.  Her  manufactures  have 
been  prostrated — a  large  proportion  of  her  population  depriv- 
ed of  employment — her  revenues  diminished — and  a  new  and 
oppressive  system  of  taxation  been  found  necessary. 

The  most  determined  partizan  of  the  liberal  system,  if  not 
under  an  irremovable  bias,  must  be  thunderstruck  by  the  fol- 
lowing appalling  graphic  sketch  of  its  calamitous  results  in 
Holland. 

"  Our  people  are  in  the  most  unfortunate  situation  for  want  of  work;  as  it 
appears,  from  authentic  documents,  submitted  to  the  States  general,  that 
one-ninth  part  of  the  most  industrious  nation  in  the  world,  passionately  devoted 
to  labour,  is  reduced  to  the  abject  state  of  mendicity,  or  to  solicit  aid  to  support 
their  existence;  that  a  still  more  numerous  pai-t,  the  middle  and  working  class, 
is  circumscribed  to  the  consumption  of  mere  necessaries;  and  that  manufac- 
tures and  commerce  being  in  a  languishing  condition,  the  profits  of  persons 
who  follow  those  two  branches  of  industry,  are  insignificant."* 

"  It  is  the  tariff  of  1816,  which  has  opened  the  door  to  the  productions  of 
foreign  industry.  Front  that  period  there  has  been  a  constant  deficiency  in  our 
finances ;  because  the  working  classes,  deprived  of  wages,  have  been  obliged 
to  diminish  their  consumption  of  the  articles  subject  to  the  excise  and  impost — 
and  because  the  manufacturers,  the  merchants,  and  the  traders,  deprived  of 
the  profit  which  they  derived  from  the  disbursement  of  the  most  partof  these 
wagcs,  have  hkewise  been  obliged  to  diminish  their  consumption. 

"  It  is  since  1816,  that  the  ninth  part  of  the  nation  is  reduced  either  to  men- 
dicity, or  to  require  assistance  [for  support.] 

"It  is  since  1816,  that  manufactures  and  commerce  have  declined  with 
giant  strides: 

"  It  is  since  1816,  that  the  metallic  medium  of  the  nation  has  been  lavish- 
ed to  pay  tribute  to  foreign  industry. 

••  This  disappearance  of  the  sjjecie  is  most  perniciously  felt  by  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  price  of  houses,  which,  except  in  Brussels  and  the  Hague,  have 
fallen,  since  that  period,  more  than  one-third ,-  an  irrefragable  proof  ol"  the  ini- 

•  Considerations  sur  le  projet  de  loi,  concernant  le  nouveau  systemc  finan- 
cier du  royaume  des  Pays-bas. 


(    6    ) 

povei'ishment  of  the  nation;  for  if  our  resources  were  the  same  as  fonnerly, 
houses  would  still  command  the  same  price."* 

•'  It  is  ascertained  that  the  immense  number  of  breweries  mid  distilleries,  which" 
formerly  existed  in  both  parts  of  the  kingdom,  have  undergone  prodigious  dimi- 
nution."-\ 

"  Since  the  tariff  of  1816  has  permitted  the  entry  of  Scotch  stockings  and 
thules  under  light  duties — and  since  the  English  thules  have  almost  annihilated 
our  flourishing  fabrics  of  lace,  there  is  good  reason  to  believe,  that  those  poor  tvO' 
Men  earn  at  present  but  four  sous  per  day."\ 

Prussia  was  several  times  ravaged  by  devouring  armies 
during  the  seven  years  war.  Her  agriculture,  manufactures, 
trade,  and  commerce,  were  laid  prostrate.  Few  nations  have 
ever  been  at  a  lower  ebb — and  it  required  every  effort  of  the 
commanding  talents  of  the  great  monarch  that  presided  over 
her  destinies,  to  resuscitate  her  industry.  He  was  too  profound 
a  statesman  to  adopt  the  "liberal  system,"  and  thus  add  to 
and  perpetuate  the  impoverishment  of  his  country.  He  laid 
heavy  duties  on  imports,  and  prohibited  such  articles  as  his 
own  country  could  produce.  He  loaned  money  to  manufac- 
turers to  erect  buildings,  and  purchase  raw  materials — and  ex- 
pended out  of  his  privy  purse,  in  the  erection  of  buildings, 
and  in  bounties  and  premiums,  in  two  years,  265,448  rix  dol- 
lars. His  success  was  commensurate  with  the  greatness  of 
his  efforts.  The  following  views  of  the  result  of  his  policy  af- 
ford a  proud  triumph  for  the  restrictive  system. 

"  The  king  protects  and  encourages  manufacturers  in  every  possible  manner,  es- 
pecially by  advancing  large  sums  of  money  to  assiM  them  in  carrying  on  their  ma- 
nuf(i/:tures,  animating  them  by  rewards,  and  establishing  magazines  of  wool  in  all 
the  littk  towns,  for  the  benefit  of  the  small  woollen  manufacturers.^  Before  the 
commencement  of  this  reign,  Prussia  had  but  few  silk  manufactures,  and  those  of 
little  importance.  But  the  present  king  has  established  and  given  liberal  encou- 
ragement  to  so  great  a  number,  that  they  employ  more  than  five  thou- 
sand workmen;  and  the  annual  value  of  the  goods  manufactured  by  them  is 
two  milhons  of  crowns. — In  the  course  of  the  last  year  1,200,250  ells  of  silk 
stuffs  have  been  manufactured  at  Berlin,  and  400,000  of  gauze."|| 

"  We  are  in  possession  of  almost  every  possible  kind  of  manufactures;  and 
we  can  not  only  exclusively  supply  the  Prussian  dominions,  but  also  furnish 
the  remote  countries  of  Spain  and  Italy  with  linen  and  woollen  cloths,-  and  our 
manufactures  go  even  to  China,  where  some  of  our  Silesia  cloths  are  conveyed  by 
the  way  of  Russia.  We  export  every  yeai'  linen  cloth,  to  the  amount  of  sir 
MiLLiovs  OF  cnowNs,  aud  woollen  cloths  and  wool  to  the  amount  of  four  mh- 

IIONS."^ 

"If  the  king  has  greatly  increased  population  by  his  encouragement  of  agi-i- 
culture,  he  has  advanced  it  as  much,  and  perhaps  more,  by  the  great  numbers  of 
manufactures  and  trades  of  all  kinds,  which  he  has  caused  to  be  established,  or  to 
which  he  has  given  encouragement  at  Berlin,  at  Potsdam,  and  in  almost  every  city 
and  town  in  his  dominions."** 

"It  is  with  a  view  to  encourage  trade  that  the  inhabitants  of  Berlin  and 
Potsdam  are  exempted  from  military  .service,-  and  his  majesty  grants  nearly  the 
same  indulgence  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  circles  of  tlie  mountains  of  Silesia, 
where  the  poor  but  industrious  and  sober  weavers,  who  are  settled  in  a  nar- 
now  and  barren  district,  carry  on  those  flourishing  linen  manufactures  which 

*  Idem,  pp.  37,  38.  f  Idem,  p.  31.  ^  Idem,  p.  5. 

§  Hertzberg's  Discourses  delivered  at  Berlin,  1786,  p.  25. 
Mdem.  26.  t  Idem,  23.  '*  Ibid. 


(  y  ) 

produce  us  mi  exportation  of  so  many  milUons;  and  to  the  little  city  of  Illrchher^ 
onb/,  a  trade  of  two  mtlHoiis  of  crowns  annually.  The  king  has  in  this  district 
a  canton  for  his  foot -guards;  but  from  his  unwillingness  to  disturb  the  j)opu- 
lution  of  the  district,  he  seldom  draws  from  hence  any  recruits."* 

It  cannot  be  improper  to  submit  to  the  reader  the  sound 
reasons  assigned  by  the  monarch  himself,  for  the  wise  course 
he  pursued. 

"  Wiicn  a  nation  has  few  productions  to  export,  and  is  obliged  to  have 
recourse  to  the  industry  of  its  neighbours,  the  balance  of  trade  must  neces- 
sarily be  unfavourable.  //  pays  more  specie  to  foreigti  nations  than  it  receives 
from  them.  If  that  system  continues,  it  must,  in  the  course  of  time,  be  bereft  of 
specie.  Take  from  a  purse  daily,  without  replacing  what  you  take,  and  it  will 
soon  be  empty.  Sweden  affords  a  striking  example.  The  only  means  to  obvi- 
ate this  disadvantage  is  to  ina'case  manufactures.  A  nation  gains  the  whole  on 
its  own  productions — and  it  gains  from  its  neighbours,  the  value  of  the  ma- 
nual labour.  These  positions,  as  true  as  they  are  palpable,  served  as  the  rules 
for  the  conduct  of  government.  All  its  commercial  operations  were  regulated 
by  them.  In  consequence,  in  1773,  there  were  264  new  manufactories  in  the 
provinces.  "■\ 

By  the  regeneration  of  his  kingdom,  after  the  frightful  de- 
solation it  had  undergone,  Frederic  proved  himself  as  pro- 
found a  statesman,  as  he  had  previously  proved  himself  a 
consummate  warrior. 


Philadelphia,  Nov.  10,  1826. 


HAMILTON. 


Twelfth  Series. 

CURSORY  VIEWS,  ^c.~No.  II. 

Salutary  Effects  of  the  Restrictive  System  in  Great  Britain. 
Her  immense  Resources.  Awful  results  of  the  Liberal  System 
in  the  United  States.,  in  1784,  1785,  and  1786. 

The  case  of  England  is  the  strongest  in  the  annals  of  the 
world.  Her  population,  including  Wales,  was,  so  late  as 
1811,  inferior  to  that  of  Spain.  The  insularity  of  her  situation 
is,  it  is  true,  a  considerable  advantage:}: — but  not  much  greater 
than  the  peninsularity  of  Spain.  Her  natural  advantages  are 
inferior  to  those  of  many  other  nations.  Yet  she  has,  for 
half  a  century,  enjoyed  the  most  extensive  commerce  of  any 
nation  ancient  or  modern.  The  basis  of  that  commerce  is  her 
manufactures,  which  she  has  carried  to  an  extent,  in  many 
articles,  wholly  unprecedented.  How  were  they  brought  to 
perfection?  is  an  important  question.    By  the  restrictive  sys- 

*  Idem,  25. 

I  (Euvres  Posthumes  de  Frederic  II.  Roi  de  Prusse,  torn  v.  p.  136. 

i  The  insularity  of  England  is  immensely  beneficial  so  far  as  regards  de. 
fence  against  invasion — but  of  far  less  advantage  than  is  usually  supposed  as 
regards  commerce.  Nineteen-twentieths  of  her  seacoast  are  almost  wholly 
useless  as  to  commerce — and  carry  on  very  little  foreign  trade  worth  notice. 


(  «  ) 

tcm.  She  first  secured  the  domestic  market  to  her  own  sub- 
jects. This  warranted  the  investment  of  capital,  and  called 
forth  the  exercise  of  the  utmost  industry  and  talent.  Compe- 
tition produced  moderate  prices — and  those  moderate  prices 
enabled  her  to  compete  with  all  the  nations  of  the  world  to 
which  she  had  access,  and  to  triumph  over  their  industry.  So 
immense  were  the  resources  which  she  drew  from  her  com- 
merce, based,  let  it  be  repeated,  and  never  forgotten,  on  her 
manufactures,  that  she  was  enabled  to  subsidize  half  the  mo- 
narchs  of  Europe,  during  a  war  of  above  twenty  years  dura- 
tion. She  raised  by  loans  and  taxes,  from  the  commencement 
of  1793  till  the  close  of  1815,  the  enormous  sum  of  ;^  1,564,- 
000,000,*  equal  to  §6,938,000,000.  By  xvar  taxes  alone  she 
raised  ^T  640,000,000,  equal  to  §2,880,000,000.  In  the  year 
1815,  she  raised  bv  taxes,  no  less  than  £  70,403,448,  equal  to 
S  3 16,8 15,000,  and  by  loans  ^46,087,603  equal  to  S  209,390,- 
000,  amounting  to  the  enormous  total  of  S526,265,000.f 

This  incredible  extent  of  resources,  greater  than  was  ever 
attained  by  any  other  nation  in  the  world,  was  the  result  of 
the  decried  restrictive  system,  although  it  has  been  most 
absurdly  said,  by  men,  too,  of  high  standing  in  the  parliament 
of  England  and  the  congress  of  the  United  States,  that  Great 
Britain  has  grown  rich  in  spite  of  that  system  !  !  The  same 
language  has  been  held  by  the  chamber  of  commerce  of  Phi- 
ladelphia, in  a  memorial  ascribed  by  public  fame,  and  with 
great  appearance  of  truth,  to*a  barrister  of  the  highest  order 
of  intellect  and  practice. 

"  England  has  gro-ivn  rich  in  spite  of  her  restrictions  upon  trade,  and  not  by 
men7is  of  them.  Her  -wisest  slatesmeii  are  desirous  of  removing  them,  and  can  trace 
•ivith  unerring  certainty  to  their  operation,  a  large  part  of  the  oppression  under 
^tlhich  the  fundamentalinterest  of  that  nation  languishes,  and  is  doomed  to  lan- 
guish/.'//" 

It  is  scarcely  possible  to  conceive  of  a  more  monstrous  pa- 
radox. 

The  Mexican  government  is  following  the  policy  which  has 
raised  France  and  England  to  the  rank  they  hold  in  the  scale 
of  nations.  The  secretary  of  state,  who  was  lately  employed 
to  prepare  a  tariff,  prefaced  it  with  the  following,  among  other 
excellent  reasons,  for  the  course  he  pursued. 

"  With  regard  to  prohibitions,  I  liavc  proceeded  with  all  the  cure  recom- 
mended by  authors  on  this  subject — but  have  combined  therewith  the  consi- 
derations demanded  by  our  own  industry — comprehending  in  this  class  [of 
prohibited  articles,]  every  species  of  dress,  sljoes,  ready  made  clothes,  manu- 
factures and  productions,  -ivhich  ive  can  procure  in  our  own  country  m  sufficient 
abundance  for  our  o-u<n  use  and  consumption.  By  tliese  means,  besides  encourag- 
ing otir  own  artisans,  lue  shall  attract  foreigners,  who  will  immigrate  among  us,  to 
■work  in  our  towns ;  to  establish  therein  their  7nanufactures ;  to  bring  the  same  to 
perfection;  to  instruct  our  citizens ;  to  invest  their  gains  in  our  country — and,  if 
not  the  whole,  at  least  THE  ORKATKK  PART  TQ  BECOME  NATUHALlZEl) 
CITIZENS,  AND  THUS  INCREASE  OUR  POPULATION  AND  OUR  PROS- 
PERITY." 

♦Lowe's  Present  State  of  England,  London,  1822,  p.  20. 
I  Idem,  Appendix,  page  [2.] 


(     0     ) 

What  a  satire  these  sagacious  and  profound  observations 
reflect  on  the  policy  of  our  government,  the  operation  of 
which  has,  from  its  commencement,  tended  to  discourage  ma- 
nufacturers and  artisans,  from  emigrating  to  this  country  ! 

Having  glanced  at  the  effects  of  "the  liberal  system"  in 
Russia  and  Holland,  and  at  those  of  the  restrictive  system  in 
England  and  France,  it  remains  to  take  a  view  of  the  effect 
of  the  former  in  this  country. 

At  the  close  of  the  revolutionary  war,  "  the  liberal  system" 
was  in  full  operation  here.  The  duties  were  "  merely  for  the 
purposes  of  revenue" — of  course,  the  Salem  maxim,  that  "the 
more  free  trade  ?,y,  the  more  sure  its  prosperity^''  was  fairly- 
tested.  And  if  the  maxim  had  not  been  hollow,  fallacious,  and 
fraught  with  destruction,  this  country  could  not  have  failed  to 
enjoy  at  that  time  a  high  degree  of  prosperity.  But  what  was 
the  fact?  Few  countries  have  ever  in  a  time  of  peace  exhibit- 
ed so  much  distress.  Immense  importations  took  place,  in 
consequence  of  "  trade  being  wholly  free  from  restriction." 
They  far  exceeded  the  value  of  the  produce  to  be  exported. 
The  specie,  which  had  flowed  into  the  country,  to  pay  the 
French  and  British  troops  during  the  war,  was  soon  swept  away 
to  pay  for  foreign  frippery.  Universal  distress  followed,  and 
bankruptcy  overspread  the  nation.  Manufactures  first  felt  the 
shock.  They  were  universally  prostrated.  Agriculture  was 
next  paralized — and  the  mercantile  class,  whose  extravagant 
importations  had  been  the  primary  cause  of  the  general  suffer- 
ing, were  overwhelmed  in  the  common  ruin.  The  intense  dis- 
tress caused  recourse  to  be  had  to  appraisement,  postpone- 
ment, and  instalment  laws — to  making  property  a  legal  len- 
der in  payment  of  debts — to  a  depreciated  and  depreciating 
paper  money,  likewise  made  a  legal  tender — to  forcible  obstruc- 
tions of  the  proceedings  of  the  courts  of  common  pleas — and 
finally,  in  1786,  caused  an  insurrection,  which,  had  its  leaders 
possessed  more  talents,  or  energy,  or  resources,  might  have 
produced  anarchy,  a  civil  war,  and  another  revolution.  This 
was  the  natural  result  of  that  '"''  freedom  of  trade^''  from  re- 
striction, for  which  the  merchants  then  and  ever  since  have 
sighed.  Every  country  in  which,  except  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
venue, importation  is  wholly  uncontrolled  by  restriction,  will 
be  deluged  with  the  productions  of  foreign  industry — its  own 
industry  will  be  prostrated — its  circulating  medium,  so  far  as 
it  consists  in  specie,  will  be  exhausted — the  credit  of  its  paper 
money,  for  want  of  a  metallic  support,  will  be  destroyed — 
and  general  distress  will  be  the  unfailing  consequence.  As 
the  above  view  of  our  affairs  at  that  time,  may  at  the  present 
appear  overstrained — and  as  the  inferences  deducible  from 
it  are  of  great  importance  in  the  question  of  political  econo.- 


(    10    ) 

my,  I  deem   it  necessary  to  substantiate  my   averments  by 
authorities  of  the  most  indisputable  character. 

'•Tlie  scarcity  of  money  is  so  great,  or  the  difficulty  of  paying  debts  has 
been  so  common,  that  riots  and  combinations  have  been  formed  in  many  places, 
and  the  operations  of  civil  government  have  been  suspended."* 

"  Goods  were  imported  to  a  much  greater  amount  than  could  be  consumed  or 
paid  for.  "-f 

"  Thus  was  the  usual  means  of  remittance,  by  articles  the  growth  of  the 
countrj',  almost  annihilated,  and  little  else  than  specie  remained,  to  answer 
the  demands  incurred  by  importations.  The  money,  of  course,  tvas  drawn  off; 
and  this  being  inaderjuate  to  the  purpose  of  discharging  the  ichole  amount  of  fo- 
reign contracts,  the  residue  was  chiefy  sunk  by  the  bankruptcies  of  the  importers."^ 

"  O.i  opening  their  ports,  an  immense  quantity  of  foreign  merchandise  was 
introduced  into  the  country,  and  they  were  tempted  by  the  sudden  cheapness  of  im- 
ported gooda,  and  by  their  own  wants,  to  purchase  beyond  their  capacities  for 
payment."^ 

"  The  bonds  of  men,  whose  competency  to  pay  their  debts  was  unquestion- 
able, could  not  be  negociated  but  at  a  tliscount  o'l  thirty,  forty,  and  fifty  per 
centuin:  real  properly  was  scarcely  vendible,-  and  sales  of  any  articles  for  ready 
monev  could  be  made  onl)'  at  a  ruinous  loss.  The  mass  of  nut  ional  labour  and 
national  irealth  was  cotisequently  diminished."\\ 

"  Prcuerty,  wh£n  brought  to  sale  under  execution,  sold  at  .10  low  a  price  as  fre- 
quently ruined  the  debtor  without  paying  the  credit<rr.  A  disposition  to  resist 
the  laws  became  common:  assemblies  were  called  oftener  and  earlier  than  the 
constitution  or  laws  required."! 

♦'  Laws  were  passed  by  which  property  of  every  kind  was  made  a  legal  tender 
in  the  payment  of  debts,  thougji  payable,  according  to  contract,  in  gold  or  silver. 
Other  laws  installed  the  debt,  so  that  of  sums  already  due,  only  a  third,  and 
afterwards  only  a  fifth,  was  annually  recoverable  in  the  courts  of  law."** 

*'  Silver  and  gold,  which  had  circulated  largely  in  the  latter  years  of  the  war, 
were  returning  by  the  usual  course  of  trade  to  those  countries,  whence  large  quan- 
tities of  necessary  and  unnecessary  commodities  had  been  imported,  "-f-f 

New  Hampshire  enacted,  "that  n^hen  any  debtor  shall  tender  to  his  creditor,  in 
satisfactio^i  of  an  execution  for  debt,  either  real  or  personal  estate  .■sufficient,  the 
body  of  the  debtor  shall  be  exempt  from  imprisonment,  and  the  debt  shall 
carry  an  interest  of  six  per  cent. ;  the  creditor  being  at  liberty  either  to  receive 
the  estate,  so  tendered,  at  a  value  estimated  by  three  appraisers,  or  to  keep 
alive  the  demand  by  making  out  an  alias,  within  one  year  after  the  return  of 
any  former  execution,  and  levying  it  on  any  estate  of  the  debtor  which  he 
call  lind."n 

These  awful  scenes  of  distress  and  demoralization,  the  ob- 
vious result  of  "  the  liberal  system.^''  and  its  first-born  child, 
vncontrolltd  importation,  ought  to  the  end  of  time  to  serve 
all  nations,  as  a  beacon  against  the  syren  lures  of  that  plausi- 
ble but  deleterious  plan  of  policy. 

HAMILTON. 
Philadelphia,  Nov .  10,  1826. 

*  Dr.  Hugh  Williamson. 

f  Minot's  history  of  the  Insurrection  in  Massachusetts,  p.  2. 

\  Idem,  p.  13. 

§  Marshall's  Life  of  Washington,  V.  p.  75.  \\  Idem,  p.  8S. 

f  Ramsay's  S.  Carolina,  H.  p.  428.  •*  Idem,  429. 

\\  Helknap's  History  of  New  Hampshire,  II.  p.  460. 

!  t  Idem,  p.  464. 


Twelfth  Series, 

CURSORY  VIEWS,  ^c— No.  III. 

Tariff  of  \7%9 — unjust  and  unequal — Luxuries  subject  to  low^ 
necessaries  to  high  duties — Raw  materials  dutied  100  per  cent, 
higher  than  the  manufactures  made  of  them. 

The  constitution  of  the  United  States,  went  into  operation 
in  1789,  and  the  tariff*  was  the  second  act  passed  by  the  first 
congress.  The  ill-fated  manufacturers  had  celebrated  the 
new  order  of  things,  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution, 

•  A  more  iinjdst  or  oppressive  tariflTUian  that  of  1789,  was  probably  never 
enacte<l,  even  in  the  most  despotic  countries.  It  violated  ahnost  every  fun- 
damental rule  of  sound  political  economy.  The  fev/  instances  to  be  given  in  the 
te.xt,  of  the  extreme  partiality  displayed  in  favour  of  agriculture  and  coiu- 
merce,  to  which  large  additions  might  be  made;  ajid  the  utter  disregard  of 
the  third  class  of  society,  who  mould  the  raw  produce  of  the  soil  for  human 
comfort  and  convenience  ;  are  full  proofs  of  its  injustice.  Bulky  raw  mate- 
rials, subject  to  high  freights,  in  proportion  to  their  value,  as  if  to  prevent  the 
growth  of  manufactures,  paid  above  100  per  cent,  more  than  fine  articles 
wrought  from  them. 

Per  cent.  Per  cent 

Raw  cotton  paid  3  cents  per  pound  Cotton  manufactures  of  every  de- 

equal  to    -         -         -         -         12^  scription      -         -         .         -         5 

Henip,  60  cents  per  cwt.  equal  to  12        Manufactures  of  hemp   -        -        5 
This  is  not  its  worst  feature. 

Necessaries  of  life,  some  used  wholly,  others  chiefly  by  the  poor,  were  taxed 
extravagantly,  and  luxuries  and  conveniences  admitted  at  low  rates  of  duty. 
Brown  sugar,  cofl'ee,  bohea  and  souchong  tea,  melasses,  and  salt,  ai-e  exam- 
ples on  one  side — chintzes,  broadcloths,  Brussels  carpets,  and  services  of 
plate  on  the  other.  A  pound  of  boliea  tea  paid  as  Jiigh  a  duty  as  ttvo  yards  of 
superfiiie  chintz  at  60  cents  per  yard  f  A  pound  of  souchong  tea,  imported  in  a 
foreign  vessel,  paid  22  cents ! !  A  yard  of  broadcloth,  which  cost  five  dollars, 
paid  but  twenty -five ! !  Cambrics,  silks,  sattins,  gauzes,  chintzes,  embroidery, 
and  diamonds,  paid  the  same  duty  as  potatoes,  onions,  gypsum,  fgs,  raisins,  and 
almonds. 


Per  cent. 

Chintzes  and  all  cotton  goods  5 

Woollens  of  all  kinds      -         -  5 

Services  of  plate    -         -         -  7^ 

Linens  of  all  kinds          -         -  5 

Silk 5 

Chinaware      -         -         -         -  5 

Clocks  and  watches        .         -  5 


Per  cent. 
Bohea  tea  paid  6  cents  per  pound, 

equal  to  -  -  -  -  40 
Souchong  tea  lO'cents,  equal  to  25 
Salt  6  cents  per  bushel,  equal  to  75 
Coffee,  per  lb.  2^  cents  equal  to  16 
Sugar,  muscovado,  1  cent  per  lb.  25 
Melasses  per  gallon,  2}  cents  16 

Coals,  two  cents  per  bushel    -         10 

Yet  this  is  a  tariff',  which  Mr.  Cambreleng,  representative  in  congress, 
from  New  York,  called  "a  democratic  tariff."  "  The  men  who  framed  it, 
knew  what  equal  rights  were,  because  they  had  bravely  fought  for  them !  In 
that  tariff"  they  will  not  find  the  poor  paying  a  higher  duty  than  the  rich,  for 
the  same  article  ! !  Each  man  was  then  taxed  acccorditig  to  his  ability.'.'.'.'  and  lux- 
uries paid  the  highest  rate  of  duty! !! ! — Examination  of  the  tariff",  page  94. 

According  to  this  doctrine,  salt,  which  jjaid  75  per  cent,  and  Bohea  tea, 
which  paid  40,  are  luxuries — and  silks,  sattins,  and  fine  porcelain,  which  paid 
but  5  ]^er  cent,  are  necessaries  ! 

When  men,  who  legislate  for  great  nations,  fall  into  such  errors,  on  such 
plain,  but  important  points,  the  consequences  may  be  most  calamitous:  and  it 
is  vmiortunately  true,  that  legislation  founded  on  such  errors,  may,  and  often 
does,  affect  remote  posterity. 


(  12  ) 

with  feastlngs,  rejoicings,  processions,  and  bonfires,  as  it 
it  were  an  infallible  harbinger  of  the  millenium.  They  fondly 
believed  that  their  interests  would  engross  a  due  share  of  con- 
gressional attention,  and  insure  them  a  reasonable  protection. 
They  were  miserably  mistaken .  They  shared  the  fate  of  all  un- 
represented bodies.  In  the  infancy  of  their  establishments  they 
were  cruelly  and  unfeelingly  abandoned  by  their  fellow  citi- 
zens, while  labouring  under  almost  every  disadvantage,  of  slen- 
der capitals,  equally  slender  credit,  scarcely  any  machinery, 
very  little  skill,  and  high  wages,  to  contend,  under  a  protection 
of  Ave  per  cent,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  with  foreign  rivals, 
standing  "  on  the  vantage  ground,"  with  immense  capitals,  un-  , 
bounded  credit,  long  experience,  great  skill,  improved  ma- 
chinery, complete  protection  in  the  domestic  market,  low 
wages,  and  in  addition,  drawbacks,  and  bounties.  Never  was 
there  a  more  unequal  contest. 

The  following  table  shows  the  proportion  in  which  the  dif- 
ferent duties  were  imposed  : — 
'ilie  .a^oods  imported  in  178'J  and  1790,  under  ad  valorem  duties, 

amounted  to $  24,341,594 

Ofwhichwere  at  5  per  cent.      ...        -        $21,742,291 

7^  per  cent.  ...  1,587,395 

10  per  cent.     ....  1,004,357 

12^  per  cent.  ....  5 

15  per  cent.     ....  7,576 

$  24,341,594 

Who  will  deny  that  this  was  a  complete  specimen  of  the 
"  liberal  system,"  so  far  as  regarded  manufactures,  which  ap- 
pear to  be  the  chief  articles  contemplated  by  the  new  school 
of  political  economists  for  the  operation  of  their  doctrines  ? 

The  situation  of  the  manufacturers  was  greatly  deteriorated 
by  the  new  order  of  things.  Ten  per  cent,  duty  had  been  im- 
posed in  Pennsylvania,  by  an  act  passed  in  1785 — 

"On  all  utensils  of  pewter,  tin,  or  lc;ul ;  on  all  wrought  copper,  brass,  bell- 
metal,  and  cast  iron  ;  on  all  Britisii  steel ;  on  ail  ship  iron,  nail  rods,  and  sheet 
iron  ;  on  all  castor  and  wool  hats;  on  uH  blank  books  bound  or  unbound;  on 
all  polished  or  cut  stemes,  in  imitation  of  jeweir}' ;  chimney  pieces,  tables,  and 
other  polished  marble  ;  on  all  cabinet  and  joiners'  work,  horsemen's  whips, 
carriage  whips,  walking'  canes,  musical  instrumeaits,  and  instruments  used  in 
surveying;  on  all  stone  and  eartlien  ware;  on  all  ready-made  sails;  on  all  sad- 
dle trees — 

"  And  fifteen  per  cent,  ad  valorem  on  all  testaments,  psalters,  spelling  books, 
and  primers,  in  the  English  or  German  languages;  and  on  all  romances,  novels 
and  plays." 

Another  act,  passed  in  March  1787,  imposed  a  duty  often 
per  cent. — 

"On  all  ready-made  coats,  waistcoats,  jackets,  breeches,  shirts,  gowns,  pet- 
ticoats, bnddices,  hats  of  silk,  mull's  and  tippets,  gloves,  caps,  mitts,  stays,  and 
all  ready-made  millinary  wares — also,  on  all  finished  clocks  and  watches,  or 
separate  paits  thereof." 

What  a  contrast  between  the  fostering  care  of  manufactures 
displayed  by  the  state  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  almost  entire 
abandonment  of  them  by  the  congress  of  the  United  States  ! 


(    13    ) 

While  the  interests  of  the  manufixcturers,  who  had  aided 
•"'to  bear  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day"  in  the  revolu- 
tionary war — and  who  had,  almost  to  a  man,  arrayed  them- 
selves in  favour  of  the  new  constitution,  were  thus  offered  up 
as  a  holocaust  on  the  altar  of  the  far-famed,  wonder-working, 
and  nation-enriching  "  liberal  system^''  the  farmers,  planters, 
and  merchants,  who  had  the  legislation  in  their  hands,  took 
most  especial  care  of  their  own  interests.  So  far  as  regarded 
themselves,  they  indulged  m  the '"'' restrictive  system.''''  The 
duties  on  manufactured  tobacco  and  snuflf,  were  prohibitory, 
and  so  declared  to  be  intended.  They  were,  on  the  former, 
six  cents,  and  on  the  latter  ten  cents  per  pound. *"  Almost 
every  agricultural  production,  likely  to  be  imported,  was  du- 
tied  high.  Cheese,  for  instance,  paid  4  cents  per  pound, 
equal  to  57  per  cent.  Indigo  paid  16  cts.  per  lb.  or  about  15 
per  cent.    Hemp  60  cts.  per  cwt.  equal  to  12  per  cent. 

The  system  then  devised  for  the  protection  of  commerce 
and  navigation  was  carried  to  the  utmost  possible  perfection. 
It  embraced  and  improved  upon  the  best  points  of  the  Bri- 
tish system.  I  shall  confine  myself  to  two  features.  The  duty 
on  teas  imported  in  American  vessels,  averaged  only  12  cents 
per  pound,  while  the  average  duty  on  teas  imported  in  foreign 
vessels,  averaged  27  cents — making  the  enormous  diff'ersnce — 
not  of  five  per  cent,  as  in  the  case  of  manufactures — but  125 
per  cent,  in  favour  of  the  Americari  ynerchants  !  The  tonnage  on 
foreign  vessels  was  fifty  cents  per  ton — on  American,  only  6; 
so  that  a  vessel  of  500  tons  engaged  in  the  foreign  trade  paid 
250  dollars  for  every  entry,  while  an  American  paid  only  30 
dollars.  In  the  coasting  trade,  American  vessels  paid  but 
once  a  year,  while  foreign  vessels  paid  for  every  entry. 
Thus  a  foreign  vessel  of  120  tons,  engaged  in  the  coasting 
trade,  and  making  only  six  voyages,  or  twelve  entries,  in  the 
year,  paid  720  dollars  tonnage  duty — while  an  American,  in 
similar  circumstances,  paid  only  7-jVo  dollars ! !  But  it  will 
scarcely  be  believed,  yet  is  nevertheless  true,  that  two  of  the 
oldest  merchants  in  the  United  States,  General  Smith,  of  Ma- 
ryland, and  Mr.  Lloyd,  of  Massachusetts,  the  former  of  whom 
had  aided  in  making  this  tariff,  denied  the  protection  of  go- 
vernment "  to  the  commercial  part  of  the  communit)' ! !" 

On  Monday,  the  3d  of  May,  1824,  Mr.  Lloyd,  in  the  senate 
of  the  United  States — 

"Denied    that  anij    enconragement    had   been   extended   to    the    commercial 

*It  bas  been  most  absurdly  asserted,  that  these  exorbitant  duties  were  for 
the  protection  of  tlie  manufacturers  of  snniland  tobacco.  Nothing  can  be  more 
farcical.  They  were  to  secure  the  consumption  of  the  country  to  tlie  tobacco 
planter,  and  tliis  tliey  effectually  accomplislied.  How  did  these  particular  ma- 
nufacturers find  such  favour  in  the  eyes  of  congress,  as  to  be  guarded  bv 
prohibitory  duties,  while  all  the  others  were  protected  by  only  five  per  cent.V 


(  i^  ) 

part  of  the  community,  except  in  regard  to  the  coasting'  trade,*  and  in  rela 
tion  to  that,  it  was  merely  nominal.  He  had  never  known  a  fortune  made  by 
the  coasting'  trade." 

General  Smith  took  the  broad,  unqualified,  but  highly  un- 
tenable ground,  of  "  denying  that  government  had  ever  ex- 
tended any  protection  to  commerce."  What  wonderful  er- 
rors !     How  utterlv  unaccountable ! 


HAMILTON. 


Philadelphia,  Nov.  12,  1826. 


Twelfth  Series, 

CURSORY  VIEWS,  ^x.— No.  IV. 

The  Liberal  System  in  operation  for  above  twenty  years.  Falla^ 
cioiis  reasons  in  defence  of  it.  Pernicious  consequences .  Sol' 
diers  sacrificed.  Bankrupt  treasury.  Threats  of  fierce  resent- 
7nent  if  we  dare  alter  the  tariff".  Popular  delusion.  Mercantile 
opposition. 

"  T».e  liberal  system"  has  never  had  a  fairer  experiment  than 
in  the  United  States  on  the  adoption  of  the  federal  constitution. 
We  were  at  peace  with  the  whole  world,  and  remained  so 
for  twenty-three  years,  during  a  large  portion  of  which  time, 
we  enjoved  as  lucrative  a  commerce,  and  had  as  high  prices 
for  our  agricultural  productions,  as  any  nation  ever  had.  Dur- 
ing the  whole  period,  our  government,  regardless  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  policy  laid  down  by  Alexander  Hamilton,!  and  car- 
ried into  operation  by  all  the  wise  and  prosperous  nations  of 
the  old  world,  kept  us  in  a  state  of  servile  dependence  on  Eu- 
rope for  nineteen-twentieths  of  all  our  fine  clothing,  cottons, 
linens,  and  woollens — for  half  or  two-thirds  of  our  manufac- 
tures of  iron,  copper,  brass,  lead,  tin,  &c.  No  eflFbrts  were 
made  by  the  government  to  enable  our  citizens  to  supply  them- 

•  Mr.  Lloyd  must  have  totally  forgotten  the  China  trade — the  discriminating 
duty  of  10  per  cent — the  prohibition  of  the  importation  of  goods  in  other  ves- 
sels than  those  of  the  nation  producing  them — the  war  witii  Tripoli — the  re- 
striction in  1807,  on  the  importation  of  certain  articles,  enacted  at  the  special 
Instance  of  the  merchants,  to  coerce  Great  Britain  to  abandon  the  rule  of 
the  war  of  1756 — the  war  with  Great  Britain — the  enormous  expense  of  a 
navy — and  a  long  stririg  of  et  csteras. 

■j-When  the  former  habits  of  Alexander  Hamilton  are  considered,  his  Report 
on  Manufactures,  which  embraces  all  the  sound  principles  of  political  eco- 
nomy of  all  the  preceding  writers  on  the  subject,  and  contains  an  inestimable 
body  of  rules  for  promoting  the  "  wealth,  power,  and  resources  of  a  nation," 
must  be  a  subject  of  the  iUm9st  astonishment.    Il  is  a  chef  d'reuvre. 


(     15    ) 

selves.  Nearly  all  the  applications  made  by  the  manufacturers; 
for  protection,  were  rejected.  They  were  insulted  with  the 
ill-founded  charge  of  the  deinoralizing  tnidenci^  of  manufac- 
tures^ and  desired  "  to  go  back  to  the  xvUderness.''''  They  xvere 
told  xvith  the  utniost  confidence^  that  xve  xuere  not  ripe  for  manU' 
factures — that  xvhen  xve  became  ripe  for  theni^  they  xjuoxdd  arise 
spontoneoiisly — that  labour  xvas  too  high  to  compete  xvith  the  la- 
hour  of  Europe — that  xve  had  too  mxich  xvaste  land^xvhich  ought 
to  be  cultivated  before  xve  undertook  to  encourage  7nanifactures^ 
— that  to  protect  manufactures^  xvould  destroy  commerce — that 
high  duties  xvould  encourage  smugglings*  and  impair  the  revenue^ 
and  various  other  reasons,  all  equally  profound,  cogent,  and 
convincing,  and  all  tending  to  prove  irresistibly,  that  it  was 
perfectly  right,  and  proper,  and  politic  for  this  rising  empire 
to  continue  in  a  state  of  colonial  dependence  on  the  workshops 
of  Europe  for  a  large  mass  of  the  comforts  and  necessaries  of 
life  !  In  this  stateof  things,  non-intercourse  with  England  took 
place,  and  then  was  our  miserable  svstem  brought  to  the  test 
—and  the  MENE,  MENE,  TEKEL,  pronounced  by  all  the 
wise  and  the  good  of  this  and  all  other  nations. 

So  utterly  destitute  were  we  of  the  all-important  wool- 
lien  manufacture,  that  we  had  not  means  to  furnish  6000  dol- 
lars worth  of  blankets,  due  by  treaty  to  the  Indians  :|  and 
our  public  records  bear  the  disgraceful  stain  of  an  applica- 
tion from  the  secretary  of  war  to  remove  the  non-intercourse 
for  the  purpose  of  enabling  us  to  procure  them  !  This  single 
fact,  if  it  stood  alone,  would  sufficiently  mark  the  character 
of  the  previous  policy  of  the  country,  and  the  erroneous  views 
under  which  it  was  framed.  Of  the  cotton  and  various 
other  manufactures  we  were  almost  equally  destitute.  War 
succeeded.  We  had  not  means  to  clothe  our  soldiers,  to  en- 
able them  to  bear  the  hardships  of  a  Canadian  winter.    They 

•  The  clamour  against  smugg-ling-,  which  has  so  frequently  served  to  defeat 
the  hopes  of  the  manufacturers,  of  relief  in  their  distress,  deserves  much 
severer  animadversion  than  1  feel  disposed  to  offer.  I  shall  simply  state  the 
facts  of  the  case.  Whenever  an  attempt  has  been  made  to  raise  duties  from 
15  to  20  per  cent,  or  from  20  to  25,  the  country  has  been  alarmed  by  an  out- 
cry on  the  dangers  and  demoralization  of  smuggling.  The  moral  sense  of  the 
community  has  been  put  in  array  against  tli£  measure  on  account  of  this  ten- 
dency, and  defeat  almost  always  ensued.  But  no  alarm  is  felt  or  clamour  raised 
on  the  subject  of  smuggling  teas,  or  spirits,  or  wines,  subject  to  enormous  du- 
ties from  70  to  150  per  cent.  And  notwithstandingthe  facilities  for  smuggling 
teas  from  Canada,  where  extravagant  importations  take  place,  far  beyond  the 
utmost  probable  consumption  of  the  province,  yet  a  committee  of  congress  at 
the  last  session  reported  against  any  reduction  of  duty.  It  is  a  painful,  truth, 
that  the.  "  chimera  dire"  ofsrnuggli7ig  is  never  evoked,  but  whe7i  there  is  question 
of  the  protection  of  manufactures! 

f  This  monstrous  fact  ought  to  be  engraven  on  tablets  of  brass,  and  placed 
over  the  chairs  of  the  president  of  the  senate  and  the  speaker  of  the  house  of 
representatives  of  the  United  States,  as  an  eternal  memento. 


(  16  , 

perished  like  rotten  sheep.  This  part  oi"  the  picture  is 
surely  hideous  enough.  But  the  canvass  is  not  full.  Most 
disastrous  results  remain  to  be  sketched.  The  resources  of  a 
great  and  rising  nation,  through  the  impolicy  of  its  statesmen 
for  above  twenty  years,  were  at  so  low  an  ebb,  that  they  were 
exhausted  within  two  years.  Our  treasury  was  absolutely  bank- 
rupt. The  credit  of  the  government  was  so  completely  destroy- 
ed that  by  its  utmost  effortb  it  was  unable  to  borrow  more  than 
S  45,172,581,  and  this  at  most  ruinous  interest:  and  the  whole 
revenue  it  raised  in  the  three  years,  1812,  1813,  1814,  (ot 
which  six  months  were  months  of  peace,)  was  only  S  35,642, 
448.  The  remaining  expenses  of  the  war  were  eked  out 
by  Si  7,227,280  of  exchequer  bills,  on  whi^h  the  public  credi- 
tors suffered  heavy  losses. — Who  can  deny  the  fid'>ility  ofthis 
picture  ?  And  who,  admitting  the  fidelity  of  it,  will  not  ad- 
mit at  the  same  time,  that '"'' the  liberal  st/xtem''^  has  been  n 
blight,  and  a  blast,  and  a  mildew  to  the  resources  and  happi- 
ness of  this  country  ?  And  who,  again,  admitting  all  this,  will 
not  admit  that  a  radical  change  has  become  necessary  ? 

And  yet  utterly  untaught  by  those  awful  lessons,  which 
ought  never  to  be  forgotten,  the  congress  of  1816,  by  a  most 
impolitic  tariff,  laid  prostrate  one-third  of  the  manufactures — 
paralized  one-third  of  the  manufacturers  of  the  country — and 
left  us  again  dependent  on  Europe  for  numberless  articles 
of  prime  necessity,  with  which  a  slight  encouragement  from 
government  would  enable  us  to  supply  ourselves. 

The  duties  were  in  most  cases  imposed  solely  with  a  view  to 
revenue,  for  some  leading  members  of  congress  hold  the  pre- 
posterous idea,  that  duties  for  the  protection  of  manufactures 
were  actually  robberies  perpetrated  on  the  farmers  !  ! 

"Suppose  agriciiUure  annually  to  bring  liome  ^ 40,000,000,  slie  would  be 
annually  robbed  of  $  10,000,000  by  a  protecting  duty  of  25  per  cent,  for  the 
benefit  of  capitalists ! ! !  !"* 

The  distress  and  ruin  caused  by  the  impolitic  tariff  of 
1816,  w^re  not  confined  to  the  manufacturers,  who  had  in- 
vested millions  of  money  in  establishments,  which  provided 
supplies  of  necessaries,  comforts,  and  conveniences,  from 
which  we  were  precluded  by  the  war.  Agriculture  and  com- 
merce were  laid  equally  prostrate  in  two  or  three  years.  In  a 
word,  the  effects  of  the  "  liberal  system"  of  1816,  were  nearly 
as  disastrous  as  those  that  took  place  in  1784,  5  and  6.  Not 
to  extend  this  essay  beyond  a  proper  length,  I  offer  in  proof 
the  strong  statement  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  William 
H.  Crawford,  Esq.  in  a  report,  dated  Feb.  12,  1820 — 

"  Few  examples  liave  occurred,  of  A  IJISTHESS  SO  (iENKUAL  AMD  SO 
SEVERE,  as  that  wbich  has  been  exhibited  in  the  United  States." 

♦  Taylor's  Arator,  No.  VII. 


(    17    ) 

Let  me  add  an  important  corroboration.  In  1821,  thft 
revenue  having  fallen  short,  an  excise  was  under  considera- 
tion. But  a  committee  of  congress,  to  which  the  subject  was 
referred,  reported  against  the  measure,  on  the  ground,  that 

"The  imposition  of  an  excise  AT  THIS  SEASON  OF  EXTKEMK  DIS- 
TRESS, would  be  unwise,  and  is  not  demanded  by  the  state  of  the  treasury.* 
If  imposed,  it  wintld  be  difficult  to  collect :  and,  if  collected,  it  would  in  some 
parts  of  ihe  union,  be  in  paper  little  available." 

Let  it  be  observed,  en  passant^  that,  notwithstanding  the 
facts,  that  F.ngland,  the  greatest  commercial,  is  the  greatest  ma- 
nufacturing nation  in  the  world — and  that  almost  every  nation 
that  has  attained  a  high  degree  of  commercial  eminence,  has 
carried  on  manufactures  on  a  large  scale,  many  of  our  politi- 
cians have  fancied  an  hostility  between  commerce  and  manu- 
factures— and,  in  consequence,  whenever  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  afford  legislative  protection  and  encouragement  to 
the  latter,  a  deadly  opposition  to  the  measure  has  been  ex- 
cited in  our  commercial  towns.  The  chambers  of  commerce, 
frequently  composed  of  a  small  proportion  of  merchants,  and  in 
many  cases  by  no  means  a  fair  representation  of  the  mercantile 
interest,  are  hastily  called  together,  and  memorials  prepared 
and  presented  to  congress,  in  many  of  which  the  most  un- 
founded assertions  are  made — and  it  is  assumed  that  the  pro- 
posed measure  will  effect  the  utter  ruin  of  commerce.  This 
statement  would  be  utterly  incredible,  had  we  not  the  most 
complete  evidence  before  our  eyes.  The  Philadelphia  cham- 
ber of  commerce,  deprecating  the  alteration  of  the  tariff  that 
took  place  in  1824,  implied  that  its  immediate  consequence 
would  be  utter  destruction  to  the  national  prosperity — to  our 
agriculture,  trade,  and  commerce. 

We  were  threatened  with  the  fiery  indignation  of  Europe 
if  we  dared  to  touch  the  ark  of  the  covenant,  the  tariff, 
whereby  foreign  manufacturers  had  a  decided  advantage 
over  our  own  citizens.     The  menace  was  held  out,  that — 

"  The  United  States  must  prepare  to  see  the  East  Indies,  the  Brazils,  the 
Black  Sea,  every  portion  of  the  g'lobe,  stimulated  by  bounty  to  itself,  and  by 
restriction  to  us,  to  take  our  place  in  llie  markets  of  Europe;  to  leave  our  cot- 
ton and  tobacco  upon  our  hands,-  to  leave  In  our  docks,  to  perish,  the  two  hundred 
thousand  tons  of  shipping  employed  in  their  carriage,-  to  [cause  us  to]  lose  the  six 

•  This  was  a  very  great  error,  hardly  admitting'  of  apology.  Three  millions 
of  dollars  had  been  borrowed  the  preceding-  year — the  sinking  fund  had  been 
appropriated  to  discharge  the  current  expenses  of  the  g-overnment — the 
secretary  of  the  treasury's  report  stated  a  deficiency  of  4  or  5,  OOU, 000  dollars. 
And  yet  the  world  were  gravely  assured  that  "  the  .'ttc/fe  of  the  IrLCKurii  did  not 
demand  the  imposition  of  an  excise  f"  But  lo  and  behold,  on  the  3d  of  March, 
following,  being  only  25  d.ays  from  the  date  of  the  re]jort,  the  president  sign- 
ed an  act  authorising  a  loan  for  $5,000,000!  which,  according  to  the  decla- 
rations of  the  committee  on  the  state  of  the  treasury,  must  have  been  a  most 
wanton  exercise  of  power!  It  is  difficult  to  refrain  from  strong  comments  on 
such  monstrous  errors.    They  will  be  easily  supplied  bv  the  reader. 

3 


(  1»  ) 

nr  seven  mitlions  of  freights  which  they  earn  ,■  to  turn  over  to  beggary  the  10,000 
seamen  employed  in  their  navigation,  and  th£  ship-builders,  boat-builders,  black- 
smiths,  sail-makers,  rope-makers,  riggers,  caulkers,  joiners,  and  other  artizans, 
who  are  employed  in  their  construction." 

He  who  had  read  this  Jeremiad,  and  was  unacquainted  with 
the  real  state  of  the  case,  could  not  by  any  possibility  sup- 
pose, that  the  tremendous  act  which  was  "TO  TURN  OVER 
TO  BEGGARY  10,000  SEAMEN"— and  to  ruin  probably  as 
great  a  number  of  mechanics,  merely  contemplated  a  small 
addition  to  the  existing  duties,  averaging  not  more  on  the 
whole  than  six  or  eight  per  cent.  He  would  suppose  it  was 
an  act  for  the  utter  destruction  of  commerce — and  would, 
therefore,  not  be  much  surprised  to  find  the  memorial  assum- 
ing that  consequence,  and  even  actually  ascribing  that  design 
to  the  framers  of  the  act,  as  regarded  a  great  portion  of  our 
importations  : — 

"  The  effect,"  continue  the  memorialists,  "is  morally  certain;  so  much  so, 
AS  ALMOST  TO  INFER  THE  INTENTION  IN  THOSE  WHO  PROMOTE 
THE  CAUSE.  /;  is  to  paralize  arid  deaden  at  one  blow,  that  portion  of  the  com- 
jnercial  capital  of  this  country  which  is  employed  in  the  purchase,  importation, 
an(i  distribution  of  all  that  the  new  tariff  shall  exclude  from  the  country; 
the  ships  which  are  built  and  navigated  for  its  carriage;  the  numerous  arti- 
sans who  are  employed  in  their  equipment — the  seamen  who  man  them — and  the 
fixed  capital  invested  in  wharves,  ware-houses,  and  other  property  created  as  fa- 
cilities to  trade.  *  *  * 

*'  Ojie  arm  of  the  nation  is  to  fie  cut  off,  or  maimed  forever,  under  the  vain  ex- 
pectation of  promoting  a  better  circtdntion  in  the  other.'//" 

"  II  is  intended  by  tliis  portentous  bill  to  cliunge  the  reUitions  of  the  United  States 
with  the  ivhole  world;  to  compel  her  to  manvfact^cre  all  she  consumes;  to  depend  for 
nothing  upon  a  foreign  country  which  it  is  physically  possible  for  her  to  make;  and 
fa  withdraw  her  sanction  from  those  mutual  relations  of  dependence  and  exchange, 
vpon  which  the  refnement  and  happiness  of  the  world  have  been  heretofore  supposed 
to  depend.  **  *  They  cannot  believe  that  comynerce  and  agriculture  are  to  sink  into 
insignificance,  and  that  manufactures,  like  .iaron's  rod,  are  to  swallow  them  both 
up  /  /" 

It  is  melancholy  to  reflect  on  the  delusion  to  which  mankind 
have  been  subject  in  all  ages,  in  times  of  effervescence,  and  in 
cases  of  conflicting  interests.  Who  could  have  supposed  that 
such  a  tissue  of  wild  predictions,  as  unfounded  as  any  of  the 
soothsayings  of  the  astrologers,  should  have  emanated  from 
the  most  eminent  barrister  in  Philadelphia — been  sanctioned 
by  the  chamber  of  commerce  of  this  city — and  ushered  to  the 
world  under  the  respectable  signature  of  Robert  Ralston  ?  I 
dare  say  if  the  whole  memorial,  of  the  justice  and  cogency  of 
which  I  have  given  a  very  fair  specimen,  were  now  read  in  a 
full  chamber,  the  members  would  be  struck  with  amazement 
at  the  extravagant  predictions  so  inconsiderately  hazarded, 
so  entirely  unwarranted,  and  so  completely  put  down  by  the 
event.  It  ought  to  be  read  in  every  chamber  of  commerce  and 
every  coflfee-house  in  the  United  States  once  a  day  for  a  year, 
*m  order  to  inspire  more  caution  henceforward,  and  to  prevent 


(    19    ) 

the  merchants  being  again  led  astray  by  the  intemperate  zeal 
of  a  few  men  of  heated  imaginations. 

One  observation  I  beg  to  submit  to  the  mercantile  class  for 
their  most  serious  consideration.  Scarcely  a  session  passes 
over,  that  thej^  do  not  apply  to  congress  for  protection  of  one 
sort  or  other — for  acts  to  countervail  the  selfish  acts  of  foreign 
nations — for  breakwaters — for  light  houses,  &c.  &c.  Neither 
the  agriculturists  nor  the  manufacturers  ever  oppose  these  ap- 
plications, some  of  which  have  operated  oppressively  on  both 
those  classes,  particularly  the  retaliatory  acts,  whereby  the 
English  and  French  were  obliged,  the  English  to  open  their 
ports  to  vessels  of  the  United  States,  after  a  struggle  of  three 
years,  and  the  French  to  repeal  their  discriminatorv  duties  on 
American  tonnage.  Is  it  then  fair,  is  it  liberal,  is  it  generous, 
is  it  just,  for  the  merchants  to  unite  as  a  solid  phalanx,  from 
Maine  to  Savannah,  to  oppose  every  attempt  to  afford  relief 
to  their  fellow  citizens,  however  acute  their  distress,  however 
intense  their  suffering? 

HAMILTON. 

Phiiada.  Nov.  14,  1826. 


Twelfth  Series. 

CURSORY  VIEWS,  ^x.~No.  V. 

Mr.  Huskisson's  views  mistaken  and  tnisstated.  His  system.,  a 
complete  system  of  protection.  Illiberal  views  on  the  subject 
of  American  four.  Extracts  from  the  existing  British  Tariff. 

Mr.  Huskisson  has  been  highly  applauded  by  the  profes- 
sors of  the  new  school  of  political  economy  as  one  of  their 
eleves,  who  has  cut  down  all  the  barriers  that  prevented 
the  British  nation  from  ''^ purchasing  ivhere  articles  could  be 
had  cheapest — the  favourite  dogma  of  that  school.  By  the 
partisans  of  the  old  school,  he  has  been  equally  censured  for 
destroying  the  system  to  which  they  ascribe  the  transcendant 
power  the  nation  has  attained.  I  hope  to  make  it  appear 
that  he  had  too  much  good  sense  to  earn  the  praises  of  the 
one  school,  or  the  vituperation  of  the  other — and  that  his  sys- 
tem, so  far  as  regards  duties  on  imports,  is  generally,  and  almost 
universally,  tantamount  in  its  purpose  to  the.  old  one-  It  car- 
ries PROTECTION  stamped  on  its  front  in  most  legible 
characters.  The  only  difference  between  his  system  and  the 
old  one,  is,  that  the  former  duties  were  calculated  to  protect 


(    20    ) 

and  foster  nascent  manufactures,  and  accordingly  were  very 
high — whereas,  the  present  are  calculated  for  manufactures 
arrived  at  perfection,  and  are  consequently  greatly  reduced. 

In  the  temper  of  the  public  mind  here,  prone  as  it  is  to  look 
to  Europe  for  maxims  and  examples,  this  subject  is  of  impor- 
tance, and  requires  to  be  rigorously  scanned. 

Mr.  Huskisson  in  his  speech,  of  March  25,  1825,  which 
introduced  his  celebrated  propositions,  utterly  discounte- 
nances the  idea  attributed  to  him.  He  disclaims  it  in  the 
very  outset,  in  which  he  asks  the  support  of  parliament  for 
his  system  only  so  far  as  it  protects  the  national  industrij. 

"In  requesting  the  aUention  of  the  committee  while  I  state  the  alterations 
which  T  propose  to  recommend  in  the  duties  levied  upon  the  importation  of 
materials  employed  in  some  of  our  principal  manufactures,  and  also  in  the  pro- 
hibitory duties  now  imposed  upon  the  manufactured  productions  of  other 
countries,  I  need  scarcely  bespeak  the  disposition  of  the  committee  to  counte 
nance  the  prhici/tle  of  these  proposals,  SO  FAR  AS  THEY  SHALL  BE  FOUND 
NOT  INCONSISTENT  WITH  THE  PROTECTION  OF  OUll  OWN  INDUS- 
TRY."* 

This  is  clear  and  decisive.  It  is  the  sound  doctrine  of  the 
old  school  of  political  economists,  whose  unceasing  aim  was 
"  the  protection  of  the  industry  of  the  country,''^  against  foreign 
competition — that  protection  which,  I  repeat,  has  for  centuries 
secured  nearly  the  whole  of  the  domestic  market  to  British 
subjects — brought  their  manufactures  to  perfection — and  ena- 
bled them  ultimately  to  undersell  most  nations  in  their  own 
markets. 

On  this  single  paragraph  the  question  might  be  rested.  It 
would  admit  of  no  appeal.  But  "  proofs  rise  on  proofs,  and 
still  the  last  the  strongest." 

In  discussing  the  duty  on  woollens,  which  was  formerly 
from  50  to  67  per  cent,  he  proposed,  in  consequence  of  the 
flourishing  state  of  the  manufacture,  to  reduce  it  to  15  per 
cent,  which,  he  says,  "  will  answer  evert/  purpose  of  reasonable 
and  fair  protection.''''] 

Here,  we  find  no  idea  of  "buying  cheap  goods  abroad" 
— not  a  word  of  the  new  school  doctrines.  "  Protection"  is 
still  the  order  of  the  day. 

On  the  subject  of  cottons,  he  is  more  diffuse.  I  shall  there- 
fore quote  him  at  full  length. 

•'  I  \\  ill  begin  with  our  greatest  manufacture,  that  of  cotton.  It  will  not  be 
denied  that  in  this  manufacture,  -we  are  superior  to  all  other  countries;  and  that 
f>i/  the  cheapness  and  quality  of  our  goods,  -we  undersell  our  competitors  in  alt  the 
markets  of  the  world,  -wldch  are  open  alike  to  its  and  to  them.  I  do  not  except  the 
market  of  the  East  Indies,  (the  first  seat  of  the  manufacture,)  of  which  it  may 
be  said  to  be  the  staple,  where  the  raw  material  is  grown,  where  labour  is 
cheaper  than  in  any  other  country,  and  from  which  England  and  Europe  were 
for  a  long  time  supplied  with  cotton  goods.     Now,  hoivever,  large  quantities  of 

*  Huskisson's  Speech  on  Foreign  Commerce,  London,  1825,  p.  35. 
t  Idem,  42. 


(    21    ) 

Bristiah  ffooch  are  sold  in  India,  at  prices  loiuer  than  they  can  be  produced  by  the 
native  muniifacturers.     If  any  doubt  could  remain  that  this  manukactciif,  has 

■ROTHINU  TO    APPHEUF.ND  FROM  COIMPETITION  AM    WIIERK,    ANn    LKAST    OK    ALL    IN 

oun  HOME  MARKET,  it  must  vanish  when  I  state  to  the  committee,  that  the 
official  value  of  cotton  goods  exported  last  year,  amounted  to  the  astonishing- 
sum  of£30,795,000."» 

Here,  again,  we  see  that  the  ground  of  the  reduction  of  the 
duty  to  ten  per  cent,  was  not  to  afford  an  opportunity  of  buy- 
ing cheap  goods  abroad — but  the  British  '"'' superiority  to  all  other 
countries'*^ — their  being  able  "  to  undersell  their  competitors  i7i 
all  the  markets  of  the  world^'' — and  finally,  their  having  "  no- 
thing to  apprehend  from  competition  any  where — but  least  of 
all  in  their  own  markets.'''' 

Mr.  Huskisson  clearly  admits  that  for  manufactures  in  their 
outset,  or  labouring  under  disadvantages  in  the  competition 
with  foreign  rival  articles,  a  duty  of  30  per  cent,  may  be  right 
and  proper ;  but  further  than  this,  he  says,  he  would  not  pro- 
ceed. He  abandoned  this  ground,  however,  in  the  progress 
of  the  tariff.  Many  articles  are  dutied  higher — some  as  high 
as  75  per  cent. 

"  Thirty  per  cent,  is  the  highest  duty  which  could  be  maintained  for  the 
PROTKCTION  OF  A  MANUFACTURE  [that  of  silk]  in  every  part  of  which 
we  are  most  behind  foreign  countries — the  only  extensive  manufacture,  -which, 
on  the  score  of  general  inferiority,  stood  in  7ieed  of  S>VEji^\.k\ji  PROTECTION."'] 

He  adds  : — 

"  When  the  duty  is  imposed  to  protect  our  oion  manufactures,  and  not  for  the  pur- 
pose of  collecting  revenue,  it  will  in  no  instance  exceed  30  per  cent.  If  the 
article  be  not  manufactured  much  better  and  cheaper  abroad  than  at  home, 

9CCH  A  DUTY  IS  AMPLE  FOB  PROTECTION.''^ 

Again — 

"  With  the  knowledge  of  this  fact,  that  we  furnish — in  a  proportion  far 
exceeding  the  supply  from  any  other  country — the  general  markets  of  tlie 
world  with  all  the  leading  articles  of  manufacture,  upon  which  I  have  now 
proposed  greatly  to  lower  the  duties,  I  own  that  I  am  not  afraid  of  this  coun- 
try being  overv>helmed -with  foreign  manufactures.  Some,  1  know,  will  coise  in 
which  are  now  excluded.     I  shall  be  glad  of  il."^ 

"  With  regard  to  the  danger  of  our  being  undersold  in  our  own  markets,  it  does 
not  hold  at  atL"\\ 

What  shall  we  say  of  Mr.  Huskisson's  views,  respect- 
ing American  flour  ?  How  are  they  to  be  reconciled  to  "  the 
liberal  system?"  to  ''^  the  relaxation  of  the  rigour  of  the  systems 
of  Europe  f"*  to  the  ardent  desire  of"  removing  the  restrictions 
upon  trade^''  which  cuts  so  distinguished  a  figure  in  the  me- 
morial of  the  Philadelphia  Chamber  of  Commerce  ?  When 
the  clause  for  the  admission  of  Canadian  flour  was  under 
consideration,  he  was  warned  of  the  danger  of  American  flour 
being  thus  smuggled  into  Great  Britain ;  in  reply  to  which 
he  stated,  that — 

"  He  should  be  quite  willing  to  adopt  any  method  necessary  to  prevent /Ae 
fraudulent  mixing  of  the  United  States'  corn,  with  the  corn  of  Canada. 

•  Idem,  p.  3r.  t  ^^id.  tidem,  p.  50. 

^  Idem,  p.  53.  Q  Idem,  p.  56. 


(  ^s  ) 


"  If,  upon  tlie  averag-e  of  the  next  five  years,  it  was  found  that  100,000  quar- 
ters of  corn  were  imported  annually  from  Canada,  he  should  be  prepared  to  sus- 
pect that  it  was  not  Canadian  corn,  and  disposed  to  adopt  methods  for  the  preven- 
tion of  that  fraudulent  mixture  ivhich  such  an  average  would  establish. 

"  With  a  view  of  removing  all  cause  of  alarm,  and  giving  a?j  adequate  secu- 
rity against  the  fraudulent  introduction  of  Canada  [American]  ivheat,  he  should 
propose  as  a  clause,  by  way  of  rider,  that  there  should  he  the  same  certificate  of 
origin  as  in  the  case  of  sugar."  ♦  *  "  The  protecting  duty  -which  he  should  propose 
against  the  introduction  of  American  corn  into  this  country,  would  be  precisely  the 
samo  as  that  ivhich  already  existed  in  the  Canadas." 

Thus  while  this  nation  consumes  annually  from  28  to 
32,000,000  dollars  of  British  manufactures,  our  farmers,  who 
are  suffering  intense  distress  for  want  of  a  market  for  their 
bread-stuffs,  are,  if  possible,  to  be  prevented  even  from  smug- 
gling a  single  barrel  of  flour  into  England  for  the  use  of  the 
manufacturers  of  that  nation !  and  we  are  even  threatened 
with  the  resentment  of  Great  Britain,  if  we  increase  our  du- 
ties five  or  ten  per  cent!  "I  appeal,"  says  Judge  Cooper, 
"to  men  conversant  with  the  subject,  that  she  can  supply 
herself  in  half  a  dozen  or  ten  years  with  rice  from  the  East 
Indies,  cotton  from  Brazil,  and  tobacco  from  the  Crimea!!  !'* 
I  presume  that  no  comment  can  be  necessary  on  this  subject. 

The  following  extracts  from  Mr.  Huskisson's  tariff,  as  now 
in  operation,  will  show  the  extent  of  the  error  that  prevails 
on  the  subject — and  fully  prove  how  careful  this  wise  states- 
man has  been  of  the  national  interest. 

Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

60    Pencils,  black  lead  -        -        -        30 


Almond  paste  -        -        -        - 
Beads      ..... 
Carriages  of  all  sorts 
Chalk,  prepared      ... 
Copperplates  engraved    - 

Crayons  

Extract  of  cardamons,  coculus  indi- 

cus,  &c.       .        .        -        - 
Hides,  or  pieces  of  hides,  in  any 

way  dressed  .        -        - 

Linen  sails  .... 
Pomatum  .... 
Stone  pots  .... 
Sskins,    tanned    or    in    any    way 

dressed        .... 
Filtering  stones 

Slates 

Telescopes  .  .  .  - 
Files  of  all  sorts 
Tobacco  pipes  .  .  - 
Turnery  .  .  -  -  - 
Tooth  powder  ... 
Mats  and  matting  ... 
Musical  instruments 


Pencils,  black  lead  -        .        - 
Wrought  iron,  not  otherwise  de- 
scribed        ....        20 
Pewter  wares  -        -        -        20 

Manufactures  of  steel,  not  other- 
wise described     -        -        -        20 
Tin  ware         ....        20 
Artificial  flowers  not  made  of  silk  25 
Boxes  of  brass,  copper,  japanned, 
lacquered  ware,  tin,  iron,  tute- 


nague 

. 

20 

Japanned  ware 

- 

20 

Glass  wares 

» 

20 

Toys,  brass 

. 

20 

Feathers,  dressed    - 

. 

20 

Leather,  manufactures  of 

30 

Threads  not  otherwise 

enumerated  25 

Articles  manufactured  of  hair  - 

30 

Tinfoil     - 

. 

25 

Clocks    - 

. 

25 

Needle  work  of  thread 

or  silk  . 

30 

(iilt  or  plated  wire  - 

. 

25 

Linens  - 

. 

•40 

Lacquered  ware    - 

- 

30 

•  The  duties  on  linens  are  specific.  But  "  in  lieu  of  those  duties  upon  li- 
nens of  all  sorts,"  it  is  '•  at  the  option  of  the  importer,  to  pay  the  above  duty 
nf forty  per  cent." 


Itt. 

Per  cent. 

30 

Ajjates  or  cornelians,  set 

20 

30 

Buttons,  of  gold,  silver,  or  precious 

30 

stones           ... 

20 

Gauze,  of  thread 

30 

20 

Jewels,  set       -         -         . 

20 

20 

Luces  of  all  kinds     - 

30 

Watches  of  all  kinds 

25 

20 

Silver  wire       ... 

25 

Paintings  on  glass    . 

30 

30 

Brocade  of  silver  or  gold 

30 

Manufactures  of  copper  - 

30 

30 

Silks  not  enumerated 

30 

(    S3    ) 

Per  cent. 

Painters'  colours,  not  enumerated 

Fur  gloves  or  mits  - 

Camels'  hair  pencils 

Itoxes,  of  horn,  ivory,  papei",  tor- 
toise or  other  shells 

Boxes,  gold     .... 

All  non-enumerated  articles,  partly 
or  wholly  manufactured 

IVIanufactures  of  brass,  if  not  other- 
wise described      ... 

China  ware,  painted,  gilt  or  orna- 
mented        .        -        .        - 

Many  of  the  specific  duties  are  higher  than  any  of  those  in 
the  preceding  list.  Tobacco,  for  instance,  from  the  United 
States,  is  dutied  at  4s.  per  pound,*  which,  on  the  average,  is 
equal  to  about  1400  per  cent.  Segars  pay  4  dollars  per  lb. 
Porter  bottles  pay  3s.  per  dozen,  which  is  about  85  per  cent. 

On  three-fourths  of  the  articles,  the  British  duties  arc 
higher  than  the  American. 

When  the  reader  has  examined  the  premises  with  the  scru- 
pulous attention  to  which  the  great  importance  of  the  subject 
entitles  them,  candour  will  compel  him  to  admit  that  the  views 
of  Mr.  Huskisson  have  been  entirely  mistaken,  not  only  here, 
but  in  his  own  country — and  that  that  sagacious  minister 
never  for  a  moment  entertained  the  suicidal  idea  of  breaking 
down  the  barriers  that  protect  the  national  industry. 

What  now  becomes  of  the  statement  so  confidently  made 
seven  years  ago  by  an  amiable  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States,  that — 

"The  statesmen  of  the  old  world,  in  ADMIRATION  OF  THE  SUC- 
CESS OF  OUR  POLICY ! ! ! !  arc  relaxing  the  rigour  of  their  svstems,  and 
yielding  themselves  to  the  rational  doctrine,  that  national  wealth  is  best  pro. 
moted  by  a.  free  interchange  of  commodities,  on  principles  of  perfect  reciprocity .'.'.'  .'"\ 

What  becomes  of  the  declarations  so  confidently  hazarded, 
in  the  face  of  strong  fact,  that  England  had  removed  all  her 
restrictions  on  trade  ? 

What  becomes  also  of  the  declaration  of  that  eminent  lawyer, 
Daniel  Webster,  Esq.  that — 

"If  we  now  embrace  the  system  of  prohibitions  and  restrictions,  we  shall 
•how  an  affection  for  what  others  have  discarded,  and  be  attempting  to  adorn 
ourselves  with  cast-off  apparel." 

•  This  statement  is  taken  from  "  a  table  of  the  consolidated  duties  and  draw- 
backs, commencing  Jan.  5,  1826."  But  in  a  Liverpool  circular  of  July  22, 
1826,  the  duty  Is  stated  at  3».  per  pound  "  giving  bond  to  pay  Is.  more,  if  de- 
manded." 

■j- Nothing  can  be  conceived  more  erroneous  than  the  ground  taken  here  by 
the  judge  in  question.  In  the  first  place,  no  relaxation  had  then,  1820,  taken 
place  in  the  protecting  duties  of  any  nation  in  the  world,  except  Russi;i,  so 
far  as  regards  "  the  free  interchange  of  commodities  on  principles  of  jjer* 
feet  reciprocity," — in  the  next  place,  the  distress  at  that  very  time,  among  the 
farmers,  manufacturers,  and  merchants,  of  the  United  States,  resulting  from 
"the  succkss  of  that  policy"  which  had  excited  "the  AnMiHATioN  of  the 
STATESMEN  OF  THE  OLD  WORLD,"  was  little  short  of  what  England  has  recently 
experienced,  except  so  far  as  regards  the  want  of  the  necessaries  of  life.  The 
judge,  however,  could  not  be  answerable  for  the  error — as  he  relied  on  the 
information  of  the  mercjiants  of  Salem,  for  whom  he  wrote  the  memoi'ial. 


(  «*  ) 

We  see  that  the  "  apparel"  is  hot  "  cast  q^."  We  need  not 
"  adorn  ourselves  xvith''^  the  '"''cast  offs  "  of  Europe.  We  must 
make  "  apparel"  for  ourselves.  That  of  England  was,  it  is 
true,  a  little  out  of  date — and  some  of  its  decorations  were 
quite  superfluous — but  it  is  plain,  that  it  is  newly  arranged — 
its  superfluities  cut  oflT — and  it  is  just  as  well  fitted  for  the 
important  office  of  protection,  as  when  it  came  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  original  workmen. 

I  now  draw  these  essays  to  a  close.  The  paramount  im- 
portance of  the  subject  will  afford  sufficient  apology  for  the 
reiteration  of  arguments — many  of  which  I  have  repeatedly 
ofllered  to  the  public  consideration  during  the  [nearly]  eight 
years  I  have  devoted  to  the  discussion .  They  must  be  repeat- 
ed from  time  to  time  until  they  are  either  refuted,  which 
they  have  never  been  yet — or  until  they  are  adopted  by  our 
statesmen. 

A  man  with  as  sound  a  head,  and  as  pure  a  heart  as  ever  ex- 
isted, denounced  that  species  of  impolicy  of  which  our  statesmen 
have  been  guilty,  that  is,  assuming  an  hostility  of  interests  be- 
tween manufactures  and  agriculture — and  clearly  predicted  its 
ruinous  consequences  wherever  the  baleful  idea  prevailed. 

"  To  aim  at  separating  the  interest  of  mamifaclures  from  that  of  affricvlture,  is 
Uke  endeavouring  to  separate  the  shadoiv  from  its  substance ;  and  every  attempt 
to  do  this,  as  it  is  at  the  same  time  foolish  and  unjust,  must  end  in  the  dis- 
appointment of  its  projector,  and  prove  DE'l'ltlMENTAL  TO  THE  INTE- 
RESTS OF  THOSE  VERY  PERSONS  IT  WAS  MOST  INTENDED  TO 
SERVE."* 

Never  was  a  prophecy  more  completely  fulfilled  than  this 
has  been  among  the  farmers,  and  planters,  and  merchants  of 
this  country.  All  the  desolation  that  has  so  often,  within  the 
last  eleven  years,  fallen  so  heavily  on  these  three  classes,  has 
arisen  from  "  separating  the  interests  of  manufactures  from 
those  of  agriculture^'' — in  other  words,  from  perniciously  ne- 
glecting the  wise  admonition  conveyed  in  the  fable  of  "  the 
Belly  and  the  Members:'  HAMILTON. 

Philadelphia^  Nov.  16,  1826. 

•  Anderson  on  National  Industry,  p.  205. 

N.  B.  Some  of  the  same  odious  features  that  marked  the  tariff  of  1789,  cha- 
racterize the  existing  tariff.     Necessaries  of  life  are  dutied  far  higher  than 
luxuries. 
Bohea  tea  pays  12  cents  per  lb.  equal     Silks,  from  Europe,  -        -        20 

to 85    Watches  ...        .        15 

Coffee  5  cents,  equal  to  50  a  60    Fine  porcelain  -        -        -        20 

Brown  sugar  3  cts.  equal  to   75  a  tlOO     Velvets  -----        25 
Salt  20  cents  per  bushel,  -       150  I  Girandoles       -        -        -         -        25 

i  The  annals  of  inconsistent  or  unfair  and  oppressive  legislation  furnish  no- 
thing more  reprehensible  than  this  duty.  The  wealthy  sugar  planters,  mak- 
ing fortunes  of  5,  10,  or  15,000  dollars  per  annum,  are  protected  by  a  duty 
of  75  a  100  per  cent,  on  a  bulky  necessary  of  life — while  the  poor  manufac- 
turer of  cotton  stockings  meets  foreign  competition  under  a  duty  of  only  25, 
which  is,  in  fact,  almost  altogether  "a  duty  imposed  for  the  purpose  of 
revenue."  And  the  sugar  planters,  thus  revelling  in  such  extraordinary  pro- 
tection, have  uniformly  voted  against  any  increase  of  duty  for  the  protection  of 
their  fellow  citizens ! !    Alas !  poor  human  nature  ! 


( S5 ) 

POSTSCRIPT. 

As  many  of  our  citizens  have  very  imperfect  and  very  incorrect 
ideas  of  the  extent  and  importance  of  our  manufactures,  and  the  aid 
they  aft'ord  to  agriculture  and  commerce,  it  may  be  useful  to  present 
a  brief  view  of  the  subject.  Let  it  be  observed  that  the  information 
contained  in  the  heads  from  No.  1  to  No.  7,  is  drawn  from  official 
documents,  and  other  authentic  information,  and  may  therefore  be 
fully  relied  on.  The  others  are  only  given  as  estimates,  and  approxi- 
mations as  near  to  fact  as  possible.  The  reader  will  make  sucli  ad- 
ditions to,  or  deductions  from,  those  items,  as  he  may  judge  proper. 

1.  The  persons  concerned  in,  or  depending  on  manufactures,  at 
the  last  census,  amounted  to  1,351,622.  They  are  at  present  at  least 
1,750,000. 

2.  In  1820  they  constituted  fourteen  per  cent,  of  the  population  of 
the  Uitifpil  States.,  uhite  and  coloured;  and  twenty-two  per  cent,  of 
the  population  of  Maine,  Vermont,  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts, 
t'ontiecticut,  Rhode  Island,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Delaware  and  Maryland. 

3.  The  manufactures  exported  last  year,  constituted  25  per  cent,  of 
all  our  domestic  exports,  cotton  and  tobacco  excepted.  They  were  25 
per  cent,  more  than  the  articles  furnished  by  the  forest — 200  per  cent, 
more  than  those  furnished  by  the  sea — 120,000  dollars  more  than  the 
amount  of  all  the  wheat,  flour,  Indian  corn  and  meal,  rye  and  rye 
meal,  oats,  potatoes,  &c. — nearly  double  the  amount  of  the  animals 
and  animal  food — and  80  per  cent,  of  the  amount  of  tobacco. 

Exports  of  the  United  States,  for  the  year  ending  October  31,  1825. 
Total  domestic  exports  .-------$  66,994,745 

Cotton 36,846,649 

Tobacco  -- 6,115,623 

.Manufactures 5,729,797 

Wheat,  flour,  Indian  corn,  meal,  8;c.        -----  5,601,473 

Articles  furnished  by  the  forest 4,938,049 

Animals  and  animal  food          ...---.  3,314,793 

Articles  furnished  by  the  sea 1,595,065 

4.  Our  manufactures  exported  the  last  and  present  year,  have  been 
more  generally  profitable  to  our  merchants  than  any  of  our  great  sta- 
ples. On  the  former  losses  have  rarely  occurred — whereas  losses 
on  the  latter  have  been  frequent  and  ruinous. 

5.  The  persons  engaged  in,  or  dependent  on,  manufactures,  are 
very  nearly  five  times  as  numerous  as  those  engaged  in  trade,  (includ- 
ing shop-keeping,)  and  in  commerce. 

6.  The  manufacturers  furnish  a  market  for  the  whole  of  the  wool, 
flax,  hemp,  hides,  skins  ;  one-fifth  of  the  cotton  ;  and  four-fifths  of  the 
vegetables,  poultry,  flour,  and  animal  food  produced  for  sale  by  the 
agricultural  class. 

7.  The  manufactures  of  the  United  States  have  arisen  to  their 
present  extent,  importance,  and  perfection,  without  having  ever  re- 
ceived the  patronage  of  the  government,  in  the  shape  of  immunity, 
privilege,  premium,  or  bounty — a  case  unexampled  probably  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  In  England,  France,  Prussia  and  other  Eu- 
ropean countries,  money  has  been  lavished  in  bounties  and  premiums, 
and  immunities  and  privileges  bestowed  on  manufacturers,  to  bring 
their  manufactures  to  perfection. 

8.  The  capital  invested  in  the  woollen  manufacture  in  the  United 
States,  has  been  estimated  at  850,000,000 — and  a  sum  at  least  equal 
in  the  cotton  branch.  That  in  all  the  other  branches  is  at  least  equal 
to  these  two— making  a  total  of  g  200,000,000. 

9.  Supposing  each  person  engaged  in  or  dependent  on  manufac- 
tures, (1,750,000,)  to  consume  only  to  the  amount  of  75  cents  per 

4 

> 


(  26  ) 

week,  of  food  and  drink,  it  amounts  to  a  market  for  the  farmers  of 
g  68,250,000  per  annum,  being  more  than  six  times  the  amount  of 
the  market  for  vegetable  and  animal  food  furnished  by  all  the  foreign 
world,  ^810,841,511.) 

10.  Supposing  that  of  the  persons  concerned  in,  or  dependent  on,  ma- 
nufactures, one-fourth  part,  say  440,000,  are  operatives,  and  consume 
of  wool,  flax,  cotton,  hemp,  hides,  skins,  &c.  at  the  rate  of  lialf  a 
dollar  per  day,  each,  it  amounts  to  g  68,640,000.  Thus  the  manu- 
facturers furnish  a  market  to  the  agriculturists,  for  provisions  and  raw 
materials  to  the  amount  of  about  g  136,000,000  per  annum. 

11.  By  the  return  of  the  Marshals,  in  1810,  it  appeared  that  the 
amount  of  the  manufactures  of  the  United  States,  then,  was  S  127, 
694,602.  The  returns  were  manifestly  and  greatly  imperfect — and 
'lench  Coxe,  Esq.  who  was  employed  to  adjust  and  arrange  them, 
stated  them  at  S  172,762,676.  Our  woollen  and  cotton  manufactures 
have  since  that  period  certainly  increased  ten-fold.  All  others,  then 
existing,  have  greatly  increased,  though  not  to  the  same  extent.  Va- 
rious important  manufactures  have  been  established  since  that  period. 

I  presume  from  the  premises,  therefore,  it  will  be  admitted  to  be  a  mo-    •  ^ 
derate  estimate,  that  they  now  amount  to  55  "^0,000,000.  ^  •* 

12.  If  the  wages  of  tlie  operative*  average  only  four  dollars  per 
week,  they  amount  annually  to  S  88,000,000. 

13.  The  freight  on  the  raw  materials  imported  into  this  country 
for  the  use  of  the  manufacturers,  and  that  derived  from  the  coasting 
trade  in  domestic  raw  materials,  and  domestic  manufactures,  is  pro- 
bably twice  as  much  as  the  freight  of  all  the  rest  of  our  commerce, 
cotton  excepted — and  five  times  as  great  as  that  derived  from  the 
importation  of  foreign  manufactures. 

This,  gentle  reader,  is  the  class  which  has  been  styled  by  Dr. 
Jones,  President  of  the  Nottaway  Agricultural  Society,  and  been  too 
frequently  regarded  by  those  statesmen  who  regulate  the  policy  of 
this  country,  as  "/Ae  most  insignificant  and  iticunsiderable  interest  in 
the  nation ! .' .'" 


N.  B.  In  stating  the  effects  of  the  restrictive  system,  I  forgot  two 
all-important  circumstances,  which,  alone,  would,  with  unprejudiced 
men,  settle  the  question  between  tlie  two  systems  forever  beyond 
the  power  of  appeal.  The  acts  in  favour  of  American  navigation, 
referred  to  in  page  14,  and  the  act  imposing  the  square  yard  duty  on 
coarse  cottons,  were  in  the  most  direct  hostility  with  the  liberal  sys- 
tem, and  carried  the  vituperated  restrictive  system  to  the  utmost  ex- 
tent. What  has  been  the  result.**  Have  they  been  unfavourable  to 
the  nation  ?  Have  they  proved  the  impolicy  or  injustice  of  '•  the 
restrictive  system,"  and  that  it  "taxed  the  many  for  the  benefit  of 
the  few."  No — no — no.  Never  had  any  system  a  prouder  triumph 
over  its  opposers.  In  the  case  of  the  navigation  of  the  United  States, 
the  protection  it  experienced,  increased  it  as  follows.    It  v/as 

Tons.  Tons. 


In  1789  only  -  -  -  201,502 
1790  .  -  -  .  478,377 
1792    -         .         -         -         564,437 


la  1796  ....  831,700 
1798  ...  -  898,328 
ISUl    ....      1.033,218 


The  increase,  after  1792,  arose,  it  is  true,  partly  from  the  wars  of 
Europe.  I'ut  before  that  year,  it  proceeded  wholly  from  our  naviga- 
tion act. 

The  case  of  coarse  cottons  is  equally  strong.  The  protecting  duty 
on  those  articles  has  been  and  is  from  50  to  100  per  cent.  Has  that 
duty  "  taxed  the  many  for  the  benefit  of  the  few?''^  No.  It  has,  on  the 
contrary:  furnished  an  article  of  treble  the  durability  and  value,  at  a 
price  from  25  to  30  per  cent,  lower  than  the  rival  one.  Away  then 
with  idle  assertions  and  wild  theory,  when  opposed  to  solid  facts. 


